Among the curious happenings of the month was the brief hubbub surrounding YouTeller, a UK-based firm which was briefly touted as being the ‘next NETeller’.
YouTeller, though, proved to be far too small to be seriously considered as a viable online-payment alternative, and from there the news got worse: NETeller assailed the small company for its use of the ‘Teller’ handle, which resulted in the parent company of the planned ‘YouTeller’ to reconsider its plans to enter the market.
Ultimately, YouTeller was only a blip on the radar, leaving the future of online-payment processing in the same turbulent waters as before.
Neteller has published a new video on YouTube with the last update about their situation. Ron Martin, President and CEO of the online payment processing company, Neteller, with a short and concise speech explains and apologizes for his company freezing online gambling funds of US customers.
Over $40 million in withdrawals were processed during the first day, according to Martin.
A number of Neteller US customers have received wired money into their bank accounts.
“Clearly this situation has strained the trust we have built over the years,” Martin said. He ensured it is a priority to get all funds returned.
Here are some statements from Neteller:
- NETELLER started the process for the distribution of US member funds on 30 July 2007.
- US members were notified by email when the process started.
- US members should also check this site for updates.
- NETELLER will issue an email to US members to announce when they can begin requesting funds.
- US members must sign in to their NETELLER accounts to request the release of their funds.
- US members will not be able to request funds from the NETELLER website after January 26, 2008.
- Funds will be delivered by electronic transfer to the bank account on record with NETELLER or by cheque to the member’s mailing address.
- NETELLER will not charge withdrawal fees.
For more information visit Neteller’ site, neteller.com
Financial payment process NETeller will pay $136 million to the U.S. government and admit criminal wrongdoing in the processing American gambling transactions as part of deal reached with U.S. prosecutors, the company announced today.
The company will also begin the process of returning money to U.S. customers no later than July 30. All U.S. accounts were frozen in January following the arrests of NETeller co-founder John Lefebvre and Stephen Lawrence.
In similar guilty pleas earlier this month, both Lefebvre and Lawrence admitted that they knowingly violated the law by processing gambling transactions for Americans. The two will be sentenced this fall and face maximum sentences of five years.
If NETeller fulfills all the terms of its agreements, which also includes implementing procedures to prevent U.S. customers from using the service for online gambling, all criminal charges will be dismissed, the company said in a statement.
The $136 million NETeller now owes the U.S. government already includes $60 million that was seized by the Department of Justice in January as part of its investigation into the popular e-wallet.
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Three payment-processors have been accused of miscoding gaming transactions and funneling that money to online casinos and sportsbooks in grand jury indictments unsealed last week in Utah.
The companies, along with BetUS.com, have been charged with money laundering, bank fraud, racketeering conspiracy and violation of the wire act.
The indictment also alleges that at least on U.S. bank official had been bribed to ensure that the transactions were mislabeled.
The 34-count indictment alleges BetUS used Hill Financial Services and Gateway Technologies in Utah and CurrenC and CurrenC Worldwide in the British Virgin Islands, to deceive credit card companies into believing more than $150 million in U.S.-based transactions were not tied to online gambling. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, adopted in October, made it illegal for U.S. financial institutions to process online gaming transactions.
The U.S. Attorney is attempting to recover the $150 million under RICO, the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law.
The IRS led the investigation into payment processors.
Seven people were charged in the indictment in addition to the four companies. Baron Lombardo, 46, Richard Carson-Selman, 51, Henry G. Bankey, 49, Francisco Lombardo, 52, Count C. Lombardo, 43, Tina I. Hill, 32, and Kimberlie Lombardo 43 are all Las Vegas residents. Baron, Francisco, and Count Lombardo are brothers and Kimberlie and Francisco Lombardo are married.
None of the defendants are in custody because they are not considered flight risks, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. Richard Carson-Selman is the only person to be arrested. He was taken into custody May 10 in Las Vegas, but was released after an initial appearance in Las Vegas under the supervision of pre-trial services.
All of the defendants are scheduled to be arraigned in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, May 30, at 10 a.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Warner.
Maximum penalties include 20-years for racketeering conspiracy, 30 years for bank fraud, two-years for transmission of wagers/wagering information, and 20-years for money laundering.
NETELLER, the leading global independent online money transfer business have announced several significant changes to its services in a number of markets.
Neteller continually assesses the risk profile and status of the markets its serves. Recent actions by regulators, payment processors, and online gaming operators have increased the uncertainty around certain activities related to online gambling in some jurisdictions. Their Directors has decided that the NETELLER Group will no longer process transfers related to online gambling sites on behalf of Canada or Turkey resident customers. Reduced Service to Canada . That also means suspension of InstaCASH transactions.
They will be pulling out of Canada and Turkey effective April 9th, 2007.
Non-gambling services continue: Canada-resident customers will continue to be able to use their e-wallet accounts for non-gambling transactions, including peer-to-peer and pre-paid debit transactions.
Customer funds of Canadian residents, are held in a pooled, segregated trust account and will be available for withdrawal by customers, on demand. Canadian customers continue to be able to use their e-wallet accounts for non-gambling transactions.
The online gambling industry woke up this morning to learn that online money transfer Giant NETeller has decided to withdraw “no pun intended” from the Canadian and Turkish markets.
Here is a statement the company’s board released to the London Stock Exchange:
The NETELLER Plc Group (”NETELLER” or the “Group”) (LSE: NLR), the leading global independent online money transfer business, today announced several significant changes to its services in a number of markets.
The Group continually assesses the risk profile and status of the markets its serves. Recent actions by regulators, payment processors, and online gaming operators have increased the uncertainty around certain activities related to online gambling in some jurisdictions. The Board of Directors of the Company reached a decision, on 25 March 2007, that the risk to the Group’s ongoing business in Canada and Turkey has increased in the light of such developments. The Board has therefore concluded that the Group will no longer process transfers related to online gambling sites on behalf of Canada or Turkey resident customers.
Reduced Service to Canada
Cessation of Canadian transfers to gambling merchants: the Group will cease processing online gambling related transactions for Canada-resident customers with effect from 12.01 AM MST Monday 9 April 2007.
Suspension of InstaCASH transactions: As of today Monday 26 March 2007, at 12:01 AM MST, Canada-resident customers were no longer able to deposit funds using NETELLER’s instaCASH service either directly or from any online gambling site.
Reduced Service to Turkey
In light of recent legislation passed in Turkey on 28 February 2007, which prohibits certain forms of online gambling to be offered by any “unauthorised” domestic or foreign company to citizens in Turkey, NETELLER has decided to implement a voluntary phased withdrawal of the payment services related to online gambling that it offers customers to the Turkish market.
Everybody is concern about how to withdrawal the money from the online casinos, EcoCard may be the answer, according to gamblers and operators who are having a positive experience with the this third party payment processor.
EcoCard Ltd is a European technology company focusing on alternative payment solutions and payment processing.
One of the hardest hit online gambling companies in terms of sending out payments to customers has been the Prima Poker Network, part of the MicroGaming outfit. This firm has addressed the issue somewhat by offering EcoCard as a viable option for US customers, and it seems to be working.
Using the service does come with a price as one poster explains on the popular TwoPlusTwo.com posting forum:
“Myself and many others have used this (EcoCard) for a cashout. It is worse than it sounds. They charge 10, then if you cashout to the US an intermediary bank charges 15, then your bank will probably charge a wire fee as well. My cashout took a little more than a week and about two weeks from request from prima to bank account. However they do pay and it is not a bad service…Actually it is probably the best service still around.”
Another poster writes:
“I just recieved funds from ecocard. It took about 5 days to go from Prima site to ecocard and another 5 days from ecocard to my bank. The cost was $10 USD for each step (-$20) total. Kind of high in my oppinion .. but at least I recieved my funds.”
Online gamblers will no longer be able to buy virtual gift cards at www.giftcards.com to fund their accounts.
Sometime this weekend, giftcards.com officials removed the virtual gift card choice from their purchasing menu and are now offering only “hard cards,” corporate gift cards, and an ATM card option.
A giftcard.com spokesperson refused to say if the move was related to online gambling.
“There is no comment on any of this,” spokesperson Jason Wolfe said. “We took the service down because we are revamping our fraud system.”
Last week you could buy a virtual gift cards and use it to deposit into a casino within two hours. That made it a great option for U.S. based online gamblers looking to find another deposit method in the post-NETeller era.
And it worked quickly enough that it came close to mimicking the Instacash option once available with NETeller.
Players can still fund their accounts using processors like www.ePassporte.com, but the options are not instant and can take as long as two weeks to process.
